The present invention relates to an antitheft gear lever lock for cars in the form of a bracket locking the gear lever to the floor of the car.
Antitheft devices for cars locking mechanically the gear lever are known. They essentially consist of a padlock closure mechanism with a body which is rigidly connected to one end of a bracket, the other end of which is bolted to the floor of the car, and with a bend supported by such body which can be snap-locked to and unlocked from the latter and in the operating position is caused to embrace the gear lever in order to lock it in the reverse gear position in case of cars with manually operated gear shift and in the park position in case of cars with automatic gearshift.
However, such antitheft devices have some drawbacks. One drawback relates to the locking bracket of the padlock closure mechanism. Such drawback consists in that the brackets used hitherto are not made of a material which is plastic enough to be easily bent by a fitter so that there is no chance to adapt the brackets to any car model and then a particular bracket must be used every time. A second drawback relates to the body including the padlock closure mechanism which is supported by the bracket when the gear lever lock has to be brought to the rest position. Presently, the body is provided at the upper side with a groove and two tabs standing from said body and parallel to and urged away from each other by a spring. A bend is slidingly inserted into such groove so as to engage said tabs in order to overcome the force of the spring and to reach its rest position. The described operation is very hard to be carried out by the driver.